Page:LA2-NSRW-3-0203.jpg



MENENDEZ DE AVILES

1203

MENTAL DISCIPLINE

Sheba. He claimed the throne by divine right, but was held a prisoner for ten years by Theodore III. He married the daughter of Theodore, and after a struggle against John, his successor, was acknowledged the next heir. On the death of John in battle in 1889, Menelek was chosen and consecrated emperor. He was clement to his only rival, the natural son of John, whom he made governor of a province. _ Menelek became involved in a dispute with Italy, which claimed territory along the Red Sea and a protectorate over Abyssinia (q. v.) The war which followed ended in a great victory for Menelek at Adowa in 1896, Italy was compelled to acknowledge Abyssinia's complete independence. Menelek came to an agreement as to the Somaliland frontier with Great Britain in 1898. He agreed to keep the cara,van-routes open and not to countenance the followers of the Mahdi in the Sudan. He died in 1910.

Menendez de Aviles (mA-ndn'ddth da afv$'lasf}, Pedro, a Spanish admiral, was born at Avile"s, Asturias, in 1519. After many years of service against French corsairs and as commander of the Indian fleet, he was appointed commander of Florida, with orders to found a Spanish colony. His fleet of 34 ships, with 2,646 colonists, sailed from Cadiz on June 29, 1565. Meanwhile a Huguenot colony had settled in Florida. Menendez surprised the French fort and massacred the people — "not as Frenchmen, but as Lutherans." This was "the last crusade." He established colonies at St. Augustine, which he named Cape Carnaveral and Port Royal harbor, South Carolina, and explored the coast as far as Chesapeake Bay. While absent in Spain, a French adventurer captured San Mateo, one of his forts, and avenged the massacre of the French Huguenots — "not as Spaniards, but as traitors, thieves and murderers." On his return in 1572 he avenged the massacre and explored the whole coast, until recalled by the king to command a fleet getting ready to sail against the Low Countries. He died at Santander, Spain, Sept. 17, 1574.

Menha'den, the name of a fish, a species of herring or shad, very abundant off the eastern coast of the United States. It is called whitefish, bonyfish, hardhead and mossbunker. Menhaden are taken in nets, sometimes as many as will fill 100 barrels in a night, and sold for food, bait and manure. They are too oily to be much use for food, but make excellent manure. The oil is used in dressing leather. The business of catching these fish and manufacturing the oil and the fertilizers from them is very large, and is carried on from Maine to New Jersey.

Mennonites (men'non-its} % a body of Christian believeis, named after Menno Simons, a religious reformer of the i6th

century. As a sect they seem first to have drawn together in Switzerland about 1525, although they claim to be descendants of the Waldensians. Menno himself was born in Friesland about 1492. In 1536 he withdrew from the Roman church, identified himself with the Anabaptists, and became a bishop of their sect at Groeningen. He died in 1559. William of Orange befriended the Mennonites and gave them certain liberties in Holland, which the Dutch states afterwards withdrew. In 1786 Catharine II of Russia invited the Mennonites, with other German emigrants, to settle her dominions. They for a time were liberally aided in money, and granted perpetual exemption from military service. The privileges extended to them drew a large number to Russia and their towns increased in numbers and wealth. But in 1871 a policy of repression was introduced, and exemption from military duty was to be withdrawn after the expiration of ten years. The leaders began immediately to seek new homes for their people; and large colonies emigrated to the United States, whither smaller bodies had preceded them. The earlier comers for the most part settled in Pennsylvania; the later in the Dakotas. They already are divided into various minor sects, of which perhaps the Amish are most frequently mentioned on account of their peculiar abhorrence of buttons, using only hooks and eyes upon their heavier garments, Statistics show that in 1907 only 61 690 Mennonites were in the United States, although this number was divided into no less than 12 sects. Mennonites are sometimes classed with the Baptists on account of their practice of immersion; but more frequently with the Friends (Quakers) on account of their abhorrence of war.

Menominee (me-nom^-ne), Mich., county-seat of the county of the same name, situated at the mouth of Menominee River on Green Bay, at the extreme southern point of the northern peninsula of Michigan. It is 50 miles north of Green Bay City, Wis., and on the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul and Chicago and Northwestern railroads. It also transacts considerable business over the Wisconsin, Michigan and Ann Arbor Railroad, of which it is the terminus. It is conveniently situated as a lumber-shipping port, and has a number of sawmills, and manufactures beetsugar, machinery and shoes. Besides these industries the city is an important cedar-market Marble is quarried in the vicinity, and iron mined. Population 10,507.

Men'tal Discipline. In general this expression has referred to the common idea that the mind possesses certain general powers that can be improved by use and training. Mental discipline is supposed to sharpen the senses, strengthen the memory and develop the powers of judgment and